Shoppers at an Ikea store in Canada were left stunned when a monkey wearing a John Motson-style coat was spotted wandering around the car park.

The smartly-dressed primate, whose jacket resembles the sheepskin one often worn by the football commentator, turned up at the entrance to the furniture store in Toronto.

Image:Football commentator John Motson in his winter coat

The monkey, which is believed to be seven months old, is said to have escaped from its owner's car.

However, any hopes it had of hopping on a Billy bookcase or reclining in a Poang armchair were thwarted by security staff, who reportedly cornered the creature and called the police.

The animal's adventures promptly went viral, inspiring at least one spoof Twitter account, while Ikea and the hashtag #ikeamonkey were both trending among users of the social networking site in Toronto.

Bronwyn Page, whose photos of the monkey have been picked up around the world, said: "At first, I didn't know what kind of animal it was. Then I was like 'Oh my gosh, it's a monkey!'

"We didn't think it was real. It was very bizarre to see. I never expected to see that.

"All the people were trying to call it towards them, but it was very scared, it was darting all over the place. People were trying to get it away from cars."